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Rinehart trust battle to be heard publicly

Lauren Farrow

The bitter family dispute between mining magnate Gina Rinehart and two of her children is set to play out in open court next week, after another bid to get the matter heard behind closed doors failed.

Gina Rinehart's youngest daughter Ginia made an urgent application on Wednesday, seeking to overturn last month's Supreme Court dismissal of her and her mother's push for the matter to go to arbitration.

Had the appeal been successful it would have meant the much-publicised matter would have been dealt with in private.

But on Thursday, the NSW Court of Appeal dismissed the application.

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The mining magnate and her daughter Ginia will now face a civil hearing in the NSW Supreme Court next week, brought by two of Ms Rinehart's other children - John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart.

It comes two years after Mr Hancock and Bianca first filed their claim seeking to oust their mother as trustee of the multi-billion dollar Hope Margaret Hancock trust.

The siblings alleged Ms Rinehart had acted "deceitfully" and with "gross dishonesty" in her dealings with the lucrative trust, which was set up in 1988 by her father, Lang Hancock, with the children as beneficiaries.

The court has previously heard that days before the trust was due to vest in September 2011, Ms Rinehart contacted them warning that if it did, they would be liable for substantial capital gains tax.

Mr Hancock and Bianca Rinehart allege this was an attempt to mislead them.

Ms Rinehart has consistently denied the claims and has repeatedly tried to bring an end to the litigation.

In August, she wrote an open letter to Mr Hancock and Bianca, saying she would be willing to appoint a co-trustee.

After that olive branch failed and her two children continued to push for the disclosure of documents the mining magnate declared earlier this week that she no longer wished to be trustee.

Ms Rinehart's lawyers said on Tuesday that the ongoing litigation had placed increasing demands on her time, taken her away from company responsibilities and had upset family members.

Her barrister Bruce McClintock SC said her resignation effectively brought an end to the litigation.

But lawyers for Mr Hancock and Bianca Rinehart said they wanted to push ahead with the civil proceedings to explore whether Ms Rinehart's resignation "came about as a result of her own misconduct".

The siblings' barrister Christopher Withers accused Ms Rinehart and her company of having "unclean hands" and said her resignation came on the eve of the civil trial and after documents showed her position was "untenable".

The issue of who will replace Ms Rinehart as trustee has been referred to mediation before the civil hearing is set to begin on Tuesday.

Mr Hancock has previously been put forward as a proposed alternative trustee, along with Adelaide accountant Bruce Carter.

Ms Rinehart, however, has said that it is critical her replacement had no characteristics that could put the trust at risk and in particular was a lineal descendant.

Mr Hancock and Bianca Rinehart were previously supported by their sister Hope Welker, but she withdrew from the case earlier this year.